Tag Archives: iDevice

I feel Tuesday Talk has become a moan-fest about what Apple could be,its failings and what the Inc could do better. It didn’t used to be this way – when I used to write about Apple for the New Zealand Herald it was to continuously trumpet Apple’s successes. Apple is still ‘successful’ in that it has a global presence and makes tons of money, of course, but for the last two years Apple seems to have been focussing its energies and resources on … gosh, I don’t know what. Not tech and innovation anyway. At least not visibly.
Apple Watch just turned two, and I was always amazed by this product, mostly because it had serious competitors out there in the market place before it was even actually a product. Rumours of the Apple Watch sparked companies to create smart watches that would be ‘better’ than ‘anything Apple could produce’ … except Apple hadn’t produced anything. That’s pretty incredible power right there.
But was Apple Watch the last really innovative thing Apple did? The Watch is beautifully built, and much more useful than you’d think at first sight. But Apple lost control of the market for a device it hadn’t even released, then had to work to regain the market it had itself created. Apple did, eventually, but this was a bizarre situation that it inadvertently orchestrated for itself.

Since the Watch introduction, Mac lines have languished; iPhone has had some regular updates that haven’t been groundbreaking but definitely very good; iPad has had some regularising updates and its lineup has been refined. But for the rest, Apple now has to do something truly incredible at the World Wide Developers Conference in June on more than one front. The tech world will be focussed on Apple like never before.
But why has Apple been acting this way? That’s what I can’t work out. John Gruber, who I interviewed a few years ago in Wellington, reckons Apple’s team focus has been too much on iPhone.
Sure, under Jobs, Apple would focus its key team members on different projects one after another: a project would get the love, then the love would get moved on to another category. This approach made perfect sense when Apple was lean, a little desperate and lacked resources and power – but now that Apple has resources and power to burn, this approach no longer makes any sense. At all.
Frankly, I’m amazed Apple is still doing this. Indeed, Bryan Chaffin reckons Apple’s Achilles heel is the leadership team’s slavish devotion to maintaining a tiny executive inner circle. This appears to have led to positional nest-feathering and structured, impenetrable ennui. We are supposed to be impressed when Cook, Schiller et al even talk in public, when I’d rather see them releasing new products. I actually don’t care who these people are, they’re not my Apple rock stars. Apple’s products should be.

Even Virtual Reality …sure, I’m excited Apple has set up an AR/VR lab in Wellington, New Zealand. Who wouldn’t be? But really? Google, Microsoft and other big players have been exploring this space for years already. Does Apple really think a white headset with an Apple logo on it at twice the price is all Apple is capable of? All we expect? I really, really hope not. Apple needs to work hard to be a relevant player in this space if it’s going to enter it at all. Apple has been publicly ignoring virtual reality while hiring and acquiring experts at an impressive rate.
Meanwhile, Apple as a gaming platform has had some remarkable successes in iDevices, yet it’s still largely ignored on Mac as it has been for decades. This shouldn’t matter to people who use Macs for anything but gaming, but it does: Macs still have second-rate video cards compared to cheaper PCs largely because it can’t be bothered to attract decent games, which challenge and raise technical specs on PCs. This is galling – yet it has always been galling.
Which doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be changed. It’s also galling because virtual reality games will explode.

So I have one message, Apple: please, please get your sh_t together!I’d much rather be writing positive commentary.

Clips arrives for iPhone and iPad — Apple has released Clips, the new app that allows iPhone and iPad users to create “expressive videos.” It lets you combine video clips, photos and music into videos to share with friends through the Messages app, or on Instagram, Facebook and other social networks.
Clips also introduces Live Titles, a feature that lets users create animated captions and titles using just their voices. Effects including comic book filters, speech bubbles, shapes and full-screen animated posters.
Clips is now available on the Apple App Store for free. It’s compatible with the iPhone 5s and later, the new 9.7-inch iPad, all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, iPad mini2 and later, and iPod touch 6th generation. Devices must be running iOS 10.3 or higher. The app is 64-bit only, suggesting the end of 32-bit device support since it requires iOS 10.3 which in itself runs on 32-bit devices —but the app doesn’t run at all on the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and iPad 4.

Apple signs contract with its frenemy for ‘iPhone 8’ OLED screens — Apple has reportedly signed a two-year contract with its frenemy Samsung for up to 92 million curved OLED panels for the upcoming ‘iPhone 8,’ according to DigiTimes.
Based on the contract, Samsung Display will ship 70-92 million small-size OLED panels to Apple in 2017. This means that about 30% of iPhone devices shipped in 2017 will come with curved OLED panels, given that Apple currently ships about 200 million iPhone devices a year.

Malwarebytes: New iOS ‘malvertising’ pushes ‘free’ VPN app — Malwarebytes Labs reports that it’s discovered a new scareware campaign targeting iOS users. The campaign pushes a ‘free’ VPN app called My Mobile Secure via rogue ads on popular Torrent sites.
According to Malwarebytes Labs, the page plays an ear-piercing beeping sound and claims the device is infected with viruses. Tapping the Remove Virus button opens the Apple App Store to download the app … and that’s when things really go downhill. [Clever, since VPN is widely touted as a good way to keep your iDevices ‘safe’. As I’ve said before, the only real way to get malware onto an Apple device is to get tricked into installing it yourself. And this usually happens via sites and links that tell you there is a virus on your Apple device – no, there are not.]

Microsoft’s new iOS 10 iMessage App Who’s In lets groups collaborate on plans — Microsoft is expanding its presence on Apple’s iOS 10 messaging platform with a new iMessage App designed to allow groups to search for movies, food, events and other entertainment options and vote on what to do. Over the past few years, Microsoft’s has decisively backed Apple’s iOS as a mobile platform for its software, ranging from games to creative apps to Office productivity titles.

Average iPhone price higher in US than many other countries, survey finds — Americans are paying more for their iPhones than citizens of 38 other countries, according to a study into the average cost of electronics around the world, with a difference between the US and the cheapest country’s prices found to be more than $220.According to research from Latin America retailer Linio, the US has the 39th cheapest average iPhone cost, $625.88, out of the 71 countries studied. By comparison, Canada is in 14th place with $555.25, the United Kingdom is ranked in 12th with $542.29, New Zealand at 52nd ($623.36)and Australia is in 20th place with $574.50.

iOS makes gains in most regions in the past three months as Android declines — The latest smartphone OS sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Android sales declined in the US, Great Britain and France, as iOS continued to make gains across most regions in the three months ending November 2016. But iPhone is ceding ground in the crucial Chinese market.

Samsung vice chairman a suspect in South Korean bribery probe — A South Korean prosecutor’s office is set to interrogate the head of the Samsung Group, Jay Y Lee, as part of a wider influence scandal involving the country’s President Park Geun-hye and her close friend, Choi Soon-sil.

Every Apple HomeKit product announced at CES 2017 coming later this year — Apple itself may not show up to CES, but about a dozen companies came to this year’s show with a range of HomeKit-capable products from smart lighting products to home security. Here’s a complete guide to everything HomeKit unveiled at CES 2017.

Apple beefing up privacy options on its CareKit platform — Apple has partnered with security firm Tresorit to offer developers using Apple’s CareKit platform increased privacy options, helping reach HIPAA compliance, reports Mashable.
CareKit is a tool for assisting people in taking an active role in their care. iPhone apps using the kit make it easier for individuals to keep track of care plans and monitor symptoms and medication; providing insights that help people better understand their own health. With the ability to share information with doctors, nurses or family members, CareKit apps help people take a more active role in their health.

Key Takeaways from Phil Schiller’s iPhone Anniversary InterviewAndrew Orr Andrew Orr — On the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, Steven Levy posted an exclusive interview with Phil Schiller on his blog, BackChannel. Here are some of the key takeaways from the anniversary, including anecdotes from the original launch, thoughts on apps, and whether Phil could have known how popular Apple’s device would become.

The original iPhone of 2007 looks rather cute and cuddle by today’s standards (image from The Verge)

How did people react to the new iPhone ten years ago? It’s ‘High-Tech Bling’ you might not need. It’s a cell phone, it’s a music player, it’s a camera, it’s a Web-enabled device, and much more. Ask yourself if you really need all that high-tech bling. And some, of course, predicted it would ‘bomb’. Yet Tim Cook reckons the best has yet to come for the iconic device, and there’s lots of other speculations out there too, of course.

Apple pulls app for finding lost AirPods from App Store — Finder for AirPods, an app designed to assist owners of Apple’s AirPods in finding their audio accessory if it has been misplaced, was taken down from the App Store just a few days after it launched. The app worked by monitoring the strength of the Bluetooth signal transmitted by the lost AirPods. After selecting which AirPod is missing and docking the other in its case, users are then given an arc-shaped progress bar to show how strong the signal is, with the bar progressing to the right the closer the iPhone gets.
Apple has yet to publicly give a reason for why the app was removed from the App Store.

Rumour: Apple may be working with Carl Zeiss on AR glasses to debut in 2018 — Rumours of Apple’s intent to enter the augmented reality hardware space gained traction on Monday, as a report from AR/VR evangelist Robert Scoble claims the company is partnering with optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss on a pair of lightweight glasses. [2018?! The words ‘boat’ and ‘missing’ spring to mind.]

1/ Transfer files from iDevice to Mac via iTunes — There are various ways to transfer files from iPad/iPhone to Macs, but not all of them are reliable all of the time (like AirDrop). But iTunes file transfer is reliable for the apps that support it, and you’re not limited by file size.
Privacy is another benefit, since files you transfer aren’t uploaded to someone else’s servers (i.e., via cloud services): they go direct.
iOS devices don’t have an accessible file system like macOS does, but each app has its own document library. iTunes File Transfer lets you copy files to and from each app library.
Plug in your iPhone, iPod or iPad to a Mac with iTunes and the device shows up in the program. After clicking on the phone icon in iTunes (it appears as a little icon at top left), click on Apps on the left sidebar. Scroll down (make sure your cursor isn’t over a scrolling internal window, but over the main part of this interface) until you see the section File Sharing. There’s a list of apps currently installed on your device capable of transferring files.
If you made a movie with iMovie for iOS, for example, you can export it to iTunes. Then, using your Mac, you can open iTunes and save it to your computer. You can also do the opposite, and drag a video into iMovie using iTunes.

2/ Keep Siri from listening for Hey, Siri requests — One of the most convenient features of the newer iPhones is to have Siri always listening whether you have power connected or not. Any iPhone with the M9 chip can listen for the key words Hey Siri all the time to act upon any requests you give. But something that sounds like Hey Siri can activate Siri. Normally instances such as this are few and not a real issue, but this may not be the case in holiday season with lots of people about.
While you can disable Siri entirely by going to Settings > Siri > Siri, a much quicker way to avoid this is to quickly turn the iPhone on its face, since when the iPhone is face down, the proximity sensor stops Siri from listening. As long as the top front of the phone is blocked, Siri cannot listen. That’s why it’s very difficult to get Siri to respond while in a pocket or bag. It’s a low tech solution to a high tech problem.

3/ Prioritise app downloads —Whendownloading a number of apps on my phone, you may want to use one that’s in the process of being downloaded. In iOS 10 with an iPhone that supports 3D Touch (iPhone 6s, 7), you can choose to prioritise one download over another: with multiple apps installing, just press with a little force on the app you’d like to prioritise. When you do so, a menu pops up with that option.

4/ Get rid of Calendar spam — Some iOS and macOS users have received calendar invite spam, so if you began seeing invitations to an event in your calendar for Ugg Boots, Ray-Ban sunglasses and other products, thanks to spammers taking advantage of a long-available feature in iCloud that extracts invites from email and presents them as notifications in calendar apps.
In iOS, you can slide left and then choose Delete, which removes the invitation without providing a response (no similar option appears in macOS).
The best option, however, is to disable this automatic invitation parsing altogether. Go to your iCloud Calendar page via a desktop browser. (Apple doesn’t allow you to use iCloud.com via mobile Safari) – i.e., log into ww.icloud.com.
Click the gear icon in the lower-left corner.
Select Preferences.
Click the Advanced icon.
In the Invitations section, change the option from In-App Notifications to Email to iCloud Address.
Now spam invitations will appear in your inbox – or, more likely, get automatically marked as spam and never bother you.

5/ More Calendar spam flexibility — This is slightly inconvenient if you routinely received and wanted calendar notifications for invitations sent via email—you’ll have to look for these in your inbox and click to add them to your calendar.
If you have outstanding invitations that you can’t delete after making that change, follow these steps:
Via iCloud, iOS Calendar, or any calendar app in macOS, create a “spam” calendar.
Assign the invitation to the spam calendar without clicking Accept, Decline, or Maybe.
Delete the spam calendar. Click the Delete and Don’t Notify buttons when prompted.

Air NZ puts total ban on Samsung Note 7 — Air NZ has banned the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 from all aircraft. The national carrier is placing a total ban on the phones from 5am, following a decision by the United States Department of Transportation to ban them from all US aeroplanes. The Note 7 has also been banned from all US Flights as Hazardous Material. “Individuals who own or possess a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 device may not transport the device on their person, in carry-on baggage, or in checked baggage on flights to, from, or within the United States.”
Samsung is now estimating its losses for dealing with the Galaxy Note 7 debacle will climb well over its earlier projections (US$5.3 billion) and could go higher than its latest expectation.

iCloud Family Sharing users can remotely wipe each other’s devices — iCloud Family Sharing is great for letting your family share apps, videos, music, photos, and more without sharing an Apple ID. If you’re using Find My iPhone along with iCloud Family Sharing, however, there’s a chance someone could accidentally, or intentionally, remotely erase your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

iPhone 7 offers a virtual home button in case of physical button’s failure — As a backup if its non-mechanical home button fails, the iPhone 7 can offer a software button akin to some versions of Android, owners have discovered.

Apple acknowledges tracking iMessage metadata and sharing it with law enforcement — Despite strong encryption, and claims that Apple “doesn’t scan your communications” or “store data related to customers’ location”, Apple is saving some metadata from iMessage and other apps and sharing it with law enforcement agencies, according to a new report.In a document about Apple’s iMessage system obtained by The Intercept, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Electronic Surveillance Support Team noted that when users enter a phone number into iMessage, metadata is periodically uploaded to Apple servers to check whether a text should be routed through iMessage or standard SMS. This material includes not just phone numbers but the date and time of the lookup, and the querying user’s IP address.
Responding to The Intercept, Apple acknowledged the data collection, saying that it retains logs for 30 days and hands them over when served with a valid legal request. Because these orders can sometimes be extended in 30-day blocks, though, it’s possible that some people are being tracked for longer durations.

Inside iOS 10: Split-screen view in Safari for iPad boosts productivity — Apple’s newly released iOS 10 improves multitasking on the iPad by offering a new split-screen mode in Safari, allowing users to have two tabs open side-by-side simultaneously.

New USB-C audio standard joins the iPhone 7’s quest to kill the headphone jack — The future of mobile device audio is here, and if you hated the iPhone 7’s Lightning connector headphones, you’ll loathe this new solution. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) recently announced the audio specification for USB Type-C was now complete.

You’ll start seeing Search Ads in the App Store on October 5 — Apple has a new way for iOS developers to promote their apps in the App Store – but it comes with a price. On Wednesday US time, Apple revealed that Search Ads will go live in the App Store starting October 5. The information came in an email Apple sent to app developers encouraging them to create an ad campaign to appear in US search results. Developers who sign up will receive a $100 credit towards their first campaign.

Inside iOS 10: 3D Touch enhances Apple’s quick Control Center shortcuts on iPhone 7 & 6s series — Apple’s force sensing 3D Touch technology is greatly expanded in the newly released iOS 10 update, adding new capabilities to the Control Center shortcuts for flashlight, timer, calculator, camera, and smart home accessories. In addition, Control Center marks the only place in iOS 10 where Apple emulates 3D Touch on non-3D Touch devices.

Teardown finds DAC chips in Apple’s Lightning EarPods & Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter for iPhone 7 — As anticipated, a teardown of Apple’s Lightning EarPods and Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter, both included with the iPhone 7, has discovered small digital-to-analogue converter chips, though their exact supplier remains a mystery. [The quality of these DAC chips is crucial to good sound in digital audio.] Apple’s Lightning EarPods do sound better than the legacy 3.5mm headphone jack, according to AppleInsider, but Apple is working on fix for a iPhone 7 Lightning EarPods remote control issue.

Apple Watch Series 2 is a major step forward — Dennis Sellers has now spent a weekend with an Apple Watch Series 2 (42mm black aluminum with a black Sports band). It takes some great steps forward, but isn’t yet the perfect watch for this runner.

How to use Power Reserve on your Apple Watch — The Apple Watch has a nifty Power Reserve feature that lets you continue to tell time while preserving your battery life. The smartwatch will automatically enter Power Reserve if the battery gets too low, and you might see a red lighting bolt next to the time. However, you can enable the reserve feature manually.

Instagram to take advantage of iPhone 7 Plus cameras, wide color gamut display in app update — Popular photo sharing app Instagram is developing an app update specifically designed to take advantage of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, the latter of which boasts two cameras for wide angle and telephoto photography.

Apple debuts new videos promoting health, 107-second iPhone event recap — Following Apple’s iPhone event yesterday, the company released a handful of videos showcasing the keynote and upcoming products, including iPhone 7, Apple Watch and AirPods, as well as five shorts promoting healthy life choices.

Apple drops prices, bumps storage on iPad line — The iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 were in the spotlight Wednesday morning, Apple quietly lowered the prices on the iPad line while bumping up storage. The 16GB storage option is gone and a 256GB option is available … just like the iPhone 7.

Apple’s instincts about the Watch buyer mentality prove correct — In May of 2015, when the Apple Watch first shipped, a few observers opined that it would be wise to buy the cheapest possible version, the Sport Watch. That’s because Apple would, they claimed, come out with a new model in 2016 that would callously make the original painfully obsolete. That would destroy any initial investment in high end models. But it looks like Apple’s instincts, in contradiction to that notion, have proved correct.

Apple highlighted third party apps using Siri in iOS 10 — Apple published two blog posts last week highlighting some of the first third party apps that will have Siri support in iOS 10. The move comes ahead of the actual launch of iOS 10, and continues the company’s effort to play a broader role in shaping the Apple narrative. In Hey Siri, book me a ride, Apple highlights Uber, Lyft, mytaxi, Didi Chuxingm Vonage, Cisco Spark, and Skype. Users will be able to use Siri to get a ride or make a call without first opening these apps. In Hey Siri, show me my best selfies, Apple shows Siri integration with Pinterest, Vogue Runway, Looklive, and Pikazo.

Music for iOS 10: a tour of the big changes — Music got a complete redesign in iOS 9 last year for the arrival of Apple Music. The result was a cluttered, confusing interface that didn’t go over well, but, fortunately, Apple clearly listened. iOS 10 will arrive some time this month, and it brings a pretty big overhaul to Music for iOS. It’s a huge improvement.

Google’s Snapseed photo editing app for iOS gets a nice update — Google’s free Snapseed photo editing app for iOS has had an update to version 2.9. Google added non-destructive RAW support for those who want to edit images from their DSLRs, a new tool for editing faces and more.

Jessica Alba joins executive producer pool for Planet of the Aps — Actress Jessica Alba has joined the developer advisory team for the Apple-funded Planet of the Apps reality show, chronicling several teams of developers working on apps for iOS. Besides being an actress from 1994, Alba co-founded consumer goods firm The Honest Company with a focus on non-toxic household goods, diapers, and personal care products.

9 great new ‘little’ iOS 10 features — Each major iOS release brings big headline features that Apple announces on stage, and with a September 7th event, iOS 10 is imminent. There are always a lot of great little improvements and polish, many bringing improvements worthy of their own headlines. Mac Observer lists 9 worth noting. For example, with iOS 10 in Settings>WiFi, list items now warn you if a network is insecure. If you tap it, the WiFi screen offers recommendations for how to protect your traffic from malicious do-no-gooders.

How to use Siri to set a timer on an iOS device —You can use Siri to set a timer on your iPhone to remind you to make a phone call, turn the oven on (or off), head out to pick up the kids from school, and more. Here’s how to do it.

iPhone 7 rumors: No more antenna lines and a huge camera overhaul — The new iPhone doesn’t come out until September, but that won’t stop the rumour mill from churning at a furious pace. One includes a much larger camera cut-out than the 6, indicating Apple may be overhauling the camera system in some way.

Gotta catch ’em all: five facts that prove Pokémon Go is eating the world — The long dreamed-of Pokémon augmented reality game, whose roots may have been in a Google April Fool’s prank from 2014, landed on Android and iOS on July 6. Less than a week later, it’s become a worldwide phenomenon despite the fact that it’s officially available only in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Like this:

Why not build your own custom on-screen buttons for iPhone and iPad? There are 13 more actions available when you tap that Plus button.

Right-oh, I’m off overseas from next week for on month, going on an adventure (a battlefield tour and some historical research), so not only will there be very few Mac NZ posts after Tuesday, there will be no tips on Fridays until the week of April 5th and not even a MagBytes magazine. Sorry! So here are a few extra tips to help you cope, and the April MagBytes will be bigger than usual.
First, some Mac tips.

1/ Copy and paste addresses in a single step in El Capitan’s Contacts — If you have a full address copied, you can now paste it all in, in one step, instead of street into the street field, suburb to line 2 etc. Insert the cursor on the Street Address field and paste: everything now goes where it should go in one fell swoop.
As noted above, when Apple added data detectors in Mail – and to a much lesser extent Safari – I didn’t have to do the copy/paste dance as often, but every once in a while, you’d still get an address you needed to add to Contacts by copy/paste.

2/ Smart Folders in the Finder’s sidebar — We used to have ‘today, yesterday, last week…’ on the Finder sidebar. These pre-fab options disappeared a couple of releases ago but you can recreate the feature. In the Finder, choose File>New Smart Folder.
In the upper-right corner, click the + sign. A row of choices appears. Select Created Date from the first menu, then Yesterday from the menu following the word “is.”
Click Save, name it “Yesterday” and leave the Add To Sidebar box checked.
Click Save.
Now that set of matches appears as a smart folder you can click in the sidebar. In this case, I chose Created Date, since that’s the most likely criterion you want to find files from yesterday.
If you want to use a different way of determining that something happened to a file or other item, from the first field, select Other, then choose Date Added, Date Last Viewed, Last Modified Date, or other criteria. It can be instructive to try different date selectors to see which one fits best.
You can always add additional criteria to that smart folder, if you want to exclude email messages or other items from your yesterdays. (From Macworld.]

3/ Cleaning up your Finder’s Sidebar — If you never use AirDrop, All My Files, or iCloud Drive, you shouldn’t need to see them whenever you open a Finder window. You can drag some individual items out of the list to remove their shortcuts.
Secondly, hovering over any of the subsections (like Favorites, Devices, or Shared) will let you hide the items within it without removing anything.
Finally, you could also go to Finder>Preferences>Sidebar and uncheck anything you don’t want showing up.This way you can always turn them back on.
Additionally, you can hide the sidebar completely under the View menu if you wanna. This is kind of the ultimate cleanup, isn’t it?

4/ Change your Mac’s default Web browse — If you’d like to change your Mac’s default browser, open System Preferences (look in the Apple menu if you don’t know where to find it), then click General. Next, find the pop-up menu labelled “Default web browser:” Click it, then choose whichever browser you’d like to use as your default.
But be aware that the Default web browser menu lists any app on your computer that can open Web pages, even if they aren’t necessarily a Web browser, per se.

5/ Change your Mac’s default email app — To change your email client, you still need to do so through Apple’s Mail app. Open Mail, then choose Preferences… from the Mail menu. Click General, then select a new email app from the Default email reader pop-up menu.

6/ Remove app purchases from iTunes — Apps associated with an iTunes account should only appear there if they were obtained for free or purchased. But it’s possible that you or someone in your family selected apps by unintentionally clicking, or the apps are from so far in the past, you forgot you ever bought them. Or maybe they’re so old you just wouldn’t use them any more anyway.
In iTunes for OS X, choose Store View Account, enter your account password, and then scroll down to select See All under Purchase History. (These receipts don’t show the device they were bought on, though. For that purpose you have to consult your original emailed receipt.)
To remove, you can hide them from appearing. Here’s how in iTunes for OS X:
In the upper bar near the right, click your name and select Purchased.
Enter your account password if prompted.
Click Apps at the upper right and then, in the middle, click All (as opposed to On This Machine).
Hover over any app, and an X will appear in its upper-left corner.
Click the X, and you’ll be prompted to hide the purchase.
Repeat 4 and 5 as necessary.

7/ Delete photos in iOS when the trash can icon is greyed out — There seem to be a few different causes for this problem, which typically arise if an iOS device has been synced to iTunes – either the iOS device with the trash-can issue or a different one that was backed up and restored to that problematic device. In both cases, you may need to erase the current contents of the iOS Photos library in the steps that follow, so you should make sure you have a complete backup of all the multimedia you want to save. (If you’re already syncing photos with iTunes on a Mac or PC and you’re sure you’re up to date, that’s likely what’s preventing you from deleting images in iOS.)
If you’re not already using iTunes, use iPhoto, Photos, or Image Capture to retrieve all the images from your device, even if you only need to do that temporarily. After being sure your photos are completely backed up onto your Mac …
Connect your iOS device via USB to iTunes on a Mac (or PC).
Authorize the device if prompted.
Select the device in iTunes, and then click the Photos item in the Settings navigation bar.
Check the Sync Photos from the box and click Apply at lower right. (If Sync Photos is already checked, see below.)
You’ll be prompted to replace the library on your mobile device. Agree, but please recognise this wipes out all the photos in iOS.
This will clear whatever state was stuck related to the iOS device. If you don’t want to continue using iTunes for syncing photos, uncheck Sync Photos, click Apply, and the iOS device should be free of that unwanted burden.
If you’ve synced with iTunes in the past, follow steps 1 and 2 above, but in step 3 you should see a checkmark next to Sync Photos. If not, check it and click Apply. Some iOS users report that this seems to update sync status without prompting a warning – that is, their device was previous syncing via iTunes, but not reporting it correctly, and checking the box doesn’t warn them that the library will be wiped from iOS.
You can now uncheck albums and other kinds of photo items in iTunes and click Apply to delete those items; or uncheck Sync Photos, click Apply, and liberate iOS. I, for example, just sync one album to my iPhone: Family, so I can show people pictures of my favourite people when I’m travelling. (Apple has more detailed instructions on general use of this feature.)

8/ Using ‘Paste and Search’ in Safari fir iOS — If you’ve copied some text on your iPhone or iPad and you’d like to search the Web for it, there’s a little-known feature that’ll let you do that very quickly. All you need to do is go into Safari, tap the search bar at the top if it’s not already visible (like if you’ve scrolled down on a page), then press and hold there for a moment to get a new menu to pop up.
Tap the Paste and Search option that appears, and your copied text becomes your new Web search. (If what you copied was a URL, though, the command will read ‘Paste and Go’ instead.)
That menu will also let you copy what’s in the search bar or have your device speak its contents aloud.

9/ In iOS, add quick shortcuts and an on-screen Home button —
If your iPhone’s Home button is broken, you can enable Assistive Touch from Settings>General>Accessibility and you get a floating button which persists wherever you are in the system (though you can drag it around out of the way). Tap it, and you get access to a special pop up menu of options, one of which by default is the Home button.

10/ Build your own palette of useful shortcuts — You can even defining custom gestures, and if you have an iOS device that supports 3D Touch, you can define an action for a hard press on the floating button. Again go to Settings>General>Accessibility, turn on Assistive Touch and tap Customise Top Level Menu. Under Create New Gesture you can really go crazy, including adding Force Touch actions.

I hope that holds you, and once again, apologies, and I hope you’re New Zealand autumn is mild.

Apple Mac, iPhone & iPad news for New Zealanders

Mark Webster | Mac NZ

The home of Apple info for New Zealanders. Contact Mark by email for Mac help and advice (click Training at top right). Mac NZ serves daily Apple news from the world of Apple Inc & reviews, tips & advice around Apple & related hardware & software.

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